Live Blaster Break - 2009 Spectrum Cheapo Box

This is a spur of the moment type of thing. I saw on several other blogs that K-Mart had some decent half-off blasters like Masterpieces and Timelines so I checked out my local K-Mart to see what they had. Basically, not much. There was a bunch of cheap football and basketball but the baseball they had was old UD rack packs, some Spectrum and A Piece of History blisters and this odd half-size blaster of Spectrum. There's only four packs in the box, but a guaranteed jersey card (on average) in there. I hate Spectrum, but a jersey card would cost five bucks at the local card shop so it seemed like a decent way to rip cheap wax to me. I got a couple of blasters and was pleasantly surprised to find Grady Sizemore and Ken Griffey Jr. jerseys in them.

Grady is going to Tribe Cards unless he specifically comments on this post that he already has it. Then it goes to Motherscratcher in a futile attempt to lure him back to blogging. I don't know who to give the Griffey to, It's a Reds swatch so it should go to Cinci cards Joe, but it has White Sox logos all over it so maybe it should go to Steve. Joe needs to rebuild his collection so it's probably going in his pile.  I should probably think about actually mailing these piles I've got all over the place one of these days, shouldn't I.


The reason I have this blaster is complicated. I ended up working late (and talking to a co-worker about the Braves even later) so I didn't get on the road till about 8:30. I had a quick stop off at Wally World, who had nothing in the card aisle. Less than nothing actually. I got some dinner and batteries and junk I needed though. On my way home I was listening to the Braves play the Brewers. I was getting into it since we were actually leading in a game for the first time this month and I flaked and missed my exit. This sucks, because the next exit isn't for five miles. I decided what the hell, I'd go an extra exit north and pick up a blaster to rip on the blog. I need something to bust my slump just like the Braves needed Martin Prado's grand slam tonight. So I have a blaster and you get a live rip.

There are four packs in the blaster, three normal, one thick. In my experience, there will be 18 base cards, one parallel, one 20th anniversary and one jersey in each box. Time to open the first pack and see if the odds stay the same.  Ripping the first pack...

NOW

Pack 1

13 Dice-K

42 Roy Oswalt Blue parallel

51 Russell Martin

67 Jason Giambi

83 Aaron Rowand

 Purple is one of my favorite colors, but I hate the purple on these cards. Yet another X inan Upper Deck design doesn't help matters. I really like the blue on Oswalt's card though. I wish they had done the whole set that way. It doesn't look like a big difference on the scans, but trust me, it is in person.

Pack 2:

88 Troy Glaus
72 Carlos Gonzalez
457 John Major 20th
99 Ryan Zimmerman
10 Nick Markakis

Aww yeah, another card for my Troy Glaus collection that will go in the box with the JD Drew, Gary Sheffield, Garrett Anderson and Mark Teixiera cards at the end of the season. John Major is the 20th Anniversary card for the box. I hate these cards, but at least I got a political card to drop in Matt F.'s package which will be in the mail tomorrow. Speaking of UK politics, who the heck is the new Prime Minister anyway?

Pack 3:

24 Jim Thome
8 John Smoltz
97 Roy Halladay
53 Clayton Kershaw
69 Mariano Rivera

This thing is one of Smoltzie's last cards as a Brave and he didn't even pitch with the team in '09. I wish he'd find a team for '10 because he is a DREADFUL announcer. John makes Chip sound like Skip. I am not exaggerating, just bloody awful.  Ok, now for the pack you've all been waiting for.

Pack 4:

56 Ryan Braun
40 Lance Berkman
Jersey card
26 Jay Bruce
21 Aramis Ramirez
37 Justin Verlander

Ryan goes in Thorzul's pile. There's another package I need to get in the mail. Kind of a non descript box here, no Pujols or Jeters or A-Rods or really hige names. Braun might be the best of the bunch. Oop, sorry, I forgot about the jersey... One sec while I scan it.

(drumroll) The Joisey is....

CLAYTON KERSHAW

I'll let Night Owl and gcrl fight over whose pile this goes into. Hey Rocco, e-mail me at cardjunk at gmail dot com. I didn't pull any Rays from this box, but I got a BJ Upton and a Longo from one of the others. And yes, I have a new e-mail addy for trades, I just haven't announced it yet. Or, well, I guess I just did.

That's the box, hope you all enjoyed it!